On May 4 Governor Phil Murphy announced that New Jersey schools would not reopen for the 2019-2020 school year. NVOT students and teachers will continue remote learning for the remainder of the school year. 

In addition, Senior Prom was postponed and graduation remains open-ended. The district has formed a task force in order to reevaluate and organize the class of 2020’s end of the year events. In an email from Superintendent James Santana, he said, “The task force will include students, teachers, administrators, and other stakeholders who serve in critical support roles.” The task force is also encouraging input from students through a Google form and aims to have recommendations, guided by this input, by May 15. 

The NJSIAA also canceled the spring sports season, to the disappointment of many NVOT athletes. However, according to its official statement, the NJSIAA “will continue developing plans for the potential restarting of scholastic sports during the fall season.” 

The administration is still discussing the possible reopening of NVOT and NVD campuses for recreational activities as well. Santana said, “we are closely monitoring the results of the reopening of the state and county parks and communicating with our mayors,” in order to make an informed decision. 

5/12/2020 Updates: 

In an email sent earlier today, Santana wrote that the task force assembled to reorganize graduation and end of the year events decided on a hybrid graduation for the senior class. However, shortly after, a directive from the New Jersey Department of Education and the Attorney General’s Office announced that only online graduations will be permitted. This statement also requires that all large gatherings “that invite people to gather at a certain location” be postponed or canceled, until Murphy’s social distancing order is lifted.  

The project graduation committee and task force still continue to work towards organizing a meaningful goodbye for the senior class, including, “possibly hosting other celebratory events in the future,” Santana said. He added, however, that “All of these decisions are of course contingent upon both the timelines and to what extent the social distancing restrictions are lifted.”   

This article will continue to be updated as new information is released.